


plum or black currant?

by jostenzenik



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Near Future, a very important fact that i must never neglect, booksmart reference, killing eve reference, tsukki is an economics major
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 16:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19360486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jostenzenik/pseuds/jostenzenik
Summary: so here's kurostuki college romance bc i love kurotsuki and college aus and romance hehe <3





	plum or black currant?

Tsukishima is late.

To be specific, he’s late to his only 9 am class, Labour Economics. Last semester, Tsukishima had bent over backwards to keep several feet away from any class that required him to be up before 10, but this time he has no choice but to soldier on through 9 am Labour Econ if he wants to end the year with the appropriate number of credits. It’s not the worst possible arrangement but his body has yet to get accustomed to it, and so this is about to be his 4th late appearance to the class so far and his prof is bound to get irked.

Tsukishima is tapping his foot impatiently while waiting out the front of his dorm building, checking the time on his phone display every few seconds. After what seems like an impossibly long time, a beat-up ford pulls up to the curb. Tsukishima lets himself in and his best friend, Yamaguchi Tadashi grins up at him from the driver’s seat and flashes a peace sign.

Tsukishima mutters a cursory, “Mornin’,” as he puts his seatbelt on. His eyes fall on the half-eaten croissant in Yamaguchi’s hand as it loosely rests on the steering wheel. “Did you get me a croissant?” he asks.

“No, do you want the rest of this?” his friend offers.

“Of course I want the rest of that.

Yamaguchi hands over the small pastry and Tsukishima shoves it in his mouth, hygiene and propriety be damned. He didn’t get a chance to eat anything at the dorm and, frankly, hygiene has become a luxury upon joining university

Yamaguchi pulls away from the curb. “Thanks. For the ride. I missed the bus and didn’t know anyone else with a car who would be up this early,” says Tsukishima. Of course, what he really means is that though he has made some nice enough acquaintances in the past few months, Yamaguchi is still really his only friend he can bother about favors without feeling too guilty. He thanks, not for the first time, the universe for keeping the two together in the same place for another four years.

“Don’t worry about it, Tsukki! I’m sorry to keep you waiting, though. I was over at Akaashi and Bokuto’s place when you called,” says Yamaguchi. Akaashi Keiji was sophomore computing major and their former high school volleyball rival. He lived with his boyfriend, Bokuto Koutarou, at an apartment on the opposite side of campus from the dorms. Tsukishima faintly recalls something the other boy had mentioned about a project he was working on with Akaashi for one of their classes together.

“Oh. I hope I didn’t interrupt your work. Your work for… what was that class again?”

“Photoplasmography. And, nope, you didn’t interrupt. We were just trading our samples so we can review them later.” Yamaguchi slows to a stop at a light, unfazed, as if he’s said something of any meaning.

“That is not a real class,” says Tsukishima dismissively. He may be an Economics major but he knows it cannot possibly be a thing.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

“It’s not a class.”

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

“I’m not knocking it. It’s not a thing,” Tsukishima persists.

“How about you don’t knock it until you’ve tried it?”

Tsukishima huffs and lets him have the last word. “Just get me a croissant, Yamaguchi.” Tsukishima stares as his friend grins, takes a hand off his wheel, reaches to the backseat and hands him a white paper bag with, presumably, another croissant inside. He feels his lips twitch despite himself.

“Oh, by the way. While I was over there Bokuto said they’re having a party at theirs Friday night and we have to be there. You’ll go, right?” They were close to the Fisher building now, where Tsukishima has his first class.

“A Bokuto Koutarou party? Yeah, I think I’ll pass. I don’t want to see that guy any more than I have to,” Tsukishima scoffs, referring to his own job at the music store at the local mall. Bokuto works at the same store and sometimes, just sometimes, they end up working the same shift. Tsukishima doesn’t dislike him; he doesn’t care enough to dislike anyone. But Bokuto’s boundless reserves of energy and hyperactivity starts to wear at him after a couple minutes.

“Come onnnnn, Tsukki. They always have the best alcohol at their parties. None of that weak, watered-down shit. Plus, everyone’s going to be there! Plenty of people we know. You don’t even have to talk to Bokuto. Hell, you don’t have to talk to anyone. Just find a bottle of something strong and keep me company. Please?”

Fuck. It’s hard for Tsukishima to be resolute when his best friend gives him that look. Especially since they’ve now stopped in front of his building and he owes Yamaguchi a favor for the ride here. He grabs his backpack and his croissant, mutters a low, noncommittal, “I’ll think about it,” and gets out of the car. He can see Yamaguchi’s satisfied smile as he rolls away and wonders when he let himself become this pliant. He starts walking towards class and heaves an exaggerated sigh, “College.”

It’s not that Tsukishima doesn’t like parties. Well, actually, if you would had asked him while he was still in high school if he did, he wouldn’t even have graced you with an answer. He didn’t just hate high school parties; he was vehemently opposed to the very idea. But one of the biggest life lessons Tsukishima had learned upon joining university was that alcohol fucking slaps. Like, for real. Like, whoa. And well, college parties meant free alcohol. You can connect the dots.

So, yeah. Tsukishima liked parties. There isn’t really a reason for his obstinance, his knows that. And yet, there’s that feeling he can’t shake off. That he’s headed towards something and if he doesn’t mind his step, he’ll fall off a cliff. He shakes his head in attempt to vanquish these thoughts, and heads to class.

 

\--------------------------

 

As it turns out, Tsukishima wasn’t late after all.

Once he got to the small lecture room, one of his classmates informed him that their prof had called in sick and the class had been waiting for their TA to show up so they can start the review for an upcoming mid-term. The class was getting fidgety and noisy so Tsukishima chose to wait at a bench outside instead, fiddling with the strap on his backpack and thinking about everything and absolutely nothing all at once.

“Where did you get that?” A sudden but not entirely uncomfortable nor unfamiliar weight settles onto Tsukishima’s shoulders as he turns to see Kuroo Tetsurou slinging an arm around him and settling next to him on the bench.

Tsukishima tries not to let his surprise show, but leaves a mildly disgusted sneer on his face, “Get what?” He takes a breath and. _Wait. What even is that scent…? It’s so. Fruity. But it's not citrusy? Is it plum, maybe?_

Appearing completely unfrazzled with their current positioning, Kuroo leans back and vaguely points at the white paper bag Tsukishima’s still carrying with him, “That.” _Wait, is it… black currant?_ Tsukishima has no fucking clue and it only makes it harder to focus on Kuroo’s words.

 _WHAT IS THIS SCENT JESUS CHRIST._ “Hmm?” Kuroo cocks his head and looks at Tsukishima as if the younger boy is a Rubik’s cube Kuroo is dying to get his hands on. He looks bemused and expectant, and… and Tsukishima realizes, with horror, that he had blurted the question out loud.

“Um.”

To Tsukishima’s further horror, Kuroo bursts out laughing. He’s bent over a little now, just ‘chuckling’ away. He even has to take his arm off from Tsukishima to get right into it. A fact that Tsukishima is not as pleased about as he should be. He watches his TA cackle away, positively mortified at this point.

And then, just as suddenly as he had begun, Kuroo stops short. He leans back, looks right into Tsukishima’s eyes and says, with the most dead-serious tone Tsukishima had ever seen the third-year boy use, one word. “Peach.”

Tsukishima covers his face with his hands, willing that something, anything would interrupt this humiliating moment. Even an asteroid strike would be lovely.

“Don’t do that, Tsukki! Certainly not on my account,” Kuroo swats his hands away. When Tsukishima doesn’t listen and pulls away to bury his face in his arms with even more ferocity, Kuroo relents. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll let this whoooole thing drop and never speak of it again.” Tsukishima knows better than to get his hopes up. He can sense the ‘’But...” coming from a mile away. “But. You have to come to Bokuto’s party.”

Yep. Knew it. “No.”

“Tsukki.”

“Don’t call me that,” he tries in vain.

“Tsukki, come on.”

This time he pretends to think, “Hmmmmm... no.”

“But I KNOW you like these parties? Hello?? We’ve been at university together for 7 months, Tsukki. And I know you think yourself be a master of discretion and mystery, but I know that you secretly enjoy parties. Besides, everyone’s going to be there! Akaashi and Bokuto, obviously, but people from around here too,” he gestures to the campus in front of us. “Not to mention a bunch of our old volleyball frenemies. It’ll be FUN! Remember fun, Tsukki?” Kuroo’s really invested in this now. He has that wild look in his eye that used to wear Tsukishima out but was now his way of recognizing when Kuroo is truly serious about something and not just fooling around.

Still. The feeling. The cliff. The fact that Tsukishima knows that the sooner he relents, the sooner this conversation will end and well… he doesn’t want it too, not yet. He knows it’s uncharacteristic of him, and he knows that there is a whole class of agitated students just a few feet away waiting for Kuroo to clock in and start the review already, damnit. But there’s something holding him there, be it this _stimulating_ conversation or the tart, dizzying peach scent. So, he continues to dance around the subject. Hey, it’s hardly a crime.

“Kuroo, you said it yourself. I’ve been at university for seven. Months. Who even goes to parties to socialize anymore? I go to parties to get drunk and pretend to pass out on someone’s shoulder, so they think I’m a lightweight, take pity on me, and call me a Lyft home. It works for me and it’s all I need, really.” Tsukishima knows he’s not being very convincing or rational, but Kuroo (and the peaches) are still here and isn’t that all that matters?

“TSUKKI WHAT THE FUCK. Do you really need me to tell you how fucked up that is? Acting like you’re passed out? You’re going to get assaulted if you’re not careful.” The wild spark in Kuroo’s eyes is now replaced with concern and Tsukishima feels guilty for getting him worried when all he wanted was to talk to him for a couple seconds more.

“Hey uh. Don’t worry. I do take care of myself, uh. Really, I do, don’t worry about it, I was just babbling.” Tsukishima knows his time is up and really, there’s no point prolonging this awkward lull in the conversation. “I’ll come,” he says in a breathless rush.

Kuroo _visibly_ lights up and oh, did Tsukishima’s heart just do… a thing? It concerns him and he wonders if he should get it checked. But no time to think about that because Kuroo is off on a rant about how _FUN!_ Friday is going to be and he’s off the bench, headed, finally, towards their class. Tsukishima wordlessly follows, closing in on the cliff with every step.

When they reach the class threshold, Kuroo’s eyes zero in once again on the croissant in Tsukishima’s hand. “Give me the rest of that or I’ll fail you.” Tsukishima rolls his eyes but passes the bag along before heading to his usual seat to settle in. Kuroo keeps going and takes his place at the front of the class, clapping to get everyone’s attention.

**Author's Note:**

> thought it's worth mentioning this is my first try at writing a fic (or any sort of fiction i suppose) lol also i conceived the idea and wrote this chapter in a day lol that day was today UMM follow me on [tumblr](https://ashitakahime.tumblr.com) mayhaps. KISSES


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